Tag: workshop

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We hope you have had a good start to July. The Sun is starting to show some signs of making an appearance here.

Our last weekend in June was fabulous as we were at the wonderful St Georges Hall with so many amazing independent artists. It was an absolute delight to be there.

The atmosphere was so warm and welcoming. The organisers, Open Culture, did an amazing job.

We were then treated to the delights of Port Sunlight and were at “Handmade Fairs” which is jointly run by Port Sunlight Trust and Landbaby and Co. The setting was beautiful – we were in Bridge Cottage. Bridge Cottage is one of the largest and most architecturally significant in Port Sunlight. It is thought to have been built for the creator of the Lever Brothers Empire William Hesketh Lever who lived there on occasion between 1893 and 1900 while his primary residence in Thornton Hough was being renovated. Bridge Cottage has been continuously occupied by someone of important standing within the village and factory communities since 1900, including the schoolmaster, gallery curator, an eminent Dutch scientist, and the Lever Brothers company secretary. During the First World War it functioned as a crèche for women working in the factory and in the Second World War it suffered bomb damage after a land mine was dropped close by. More recently, the cottage has been home to the ministers of Christ Church until it was sold to Port Sunlight Village Trust in July 2015.

The next Handmade Fair at Bridge Cottage is on 11th September so put a date in your diaries if you would like to see the inside of this lovely place.

Other dates for your diaries:

9th July – Wirral Farmers Market;
9th July – Claremont Farm Summer Social
16th July – S-Luxe sample sale fashion show at Camp and furnace
23rd July – West Kirby Farmers Market
24th July – Dabble workshop open to public at Claremont farm Wirral -prebooking essential.

Hope we’ll catch up with you soon!

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Moulding chocolate is one of the topics we are often asked about when we do
chocolate demonstrations or workshops.
So firstly - let's talk about the spelling. From the Grammarist website, here
is clarification whether it should be mold or mould! ...
Mold vs. mould

American English has no mould, and British English has no mold. In other words, the word referring to (1) the various funguses that grow on organic matter or (2) a frame for shaping something is spelled the same in both uses, and the spelling depends on the variety of English.

Secondly when making chocolate a mould is any vessel that you can pour chocolate in to and then replicate the shape.

It is possible to use bowls as chocolate moulds and then stick two together to make a giant Christmas bauble.

In order for chocolate to come away from a mould properly it really needs to be tempered … or crystallised. Once the chocolate is tempered then it can be poured into the mould and left for between 20 minutes and a couple of hours to set (depending on the size of chocolate you are making)

Once set the chocolate shrinks enabling it to be tapped out.

Once the chocolate has been released from the mould it is important to then refine it in order to make it look pretty 🙂 – here is a chocolate shoe once released from the mould and put together:

And then here is the shoe finished:

Embellishment is key to some products as this enhances them – whereas on some it really isn’t needed.

There is a vast array of materials that can be used to make chocolate moulds – silicon, polycarbonate, PET, metal. Each chocolatier has their own preference of materials.

We prefer to use Polycarbonate but do use others as and when needed as well.

Hopefully you’ll have a chance to make some chocolate in mould this christmas – and whatever material you use we do hope that they come out beautifully 🙂

So – our pledge of writing a regular blog sort of faded into the background as we crazily made chocolate for Mothers’ Day and Easter.

We hope you managed to follow us on Instagram as we absolutely loved taking part in the #MarchMeetTheMaker Challenge – this was set by Joanne Hawker and many of our Mersey Etsy Team members participated in this.

We hope it gave you an insight how tiny little micro businesses like ours work. We certainly enjoyed seeing pictures of our creative friends and their creativity.

We also had lots of fun in the local press and media chatting about all things chocolatey in the run up to Easter.

We have lots to chat about and our next blog will be all about reviews.

In the meantime – our next workshop is on 25th June at Claremont Farm – just 3 places left on this one so please call us if you would like to book.

May weekends are fully booked with Hen parties but we do have availabilty in June and July for hen parties and school workshops – please get in touch to book.

What an amazing weekend we’ve had! Thank you for coming out and supporting the community of local small businesses. It was so fabulous to see so many gorgeous lovely friendly people at the Open Culture Winter Arts Market and then Baltic Market on Sunday. And really – it’s not just about the sales… […]

Last week we took part in an instagram challenge for #justacard. This was a campaign which highlighted the fact that every tiny purchase makes a difference to small businesses. The title of the campaign was inspired by a quote from an independent gallery owner after the closure of their gallery. “If everyone who’d complimented our […]

National Chocolate Week is upon us again and we’re so happy to have a full week dedicated to the celebration of chocolate! During one of our tastings this week we were asked what it’s all about – why chocolate week? For us its always been about celebrating chocolate in its beautiful wondrous form and the […]

So … today I should really be in the Chocolate Room making shot glasses for La Finca Elvissa, La Finca Bodega and Tapas Tapas. Its a hot sunny day and as I am not yet in a temperature controlled industrial unit I am stuck! It is too warm to work with chocolate today. I do […]